ICL Group Ltd. posted a 181% jump in net income attributable to shareholders of the company to $633 million on a 41% rise in sales, to $2.52 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2022, up from the year-ago $225 million and $1.79 billion, respectively. Adjusted EBITDA increased 139% to $1.05 billion from $438 million.
“Once again, ICL’s focus on long-term specialties solutions benefited the company, as did additional upside from commodity prices, which began to ease following record-setting rates in the first half of the year,” said ICL President and CEO Raviv Zoller.
For the third quarter, specialties made up nearly 60% of sales and more than 45% of EBITDA.
All three of the company’s specialities businesses delivered record third-quarter results, even with shifts in demand and continued global supply chain challenges, Zoller said.
For the full year, ICL said it expects to be at the upper end of its previously issued guidance range for adjusted EBITDA of between $3.8 billion to $4.0 billion, with between $1.5 billion to $1.6 billion of this amount estimated to come from the company’s specialties focused businesses.
Potash production in the third quarter was 1.163 million mt, 0.9% up on the prior year 1.152 million mt. Total sales volumes (including internal sales) increased 6.6% to 1.134 million mt year-over-year, up from 1.064 million. ICL cited higher sale quantities to China, India, and the US, offset by lower sales to Brazil.
Nine months potash production increased 4%, to 3.467 million mt from the year ago 3.326 million mt.
ICL reported its Dead Sea operation delivered “record” production for both the third quarter and the first nine months of the year, as the site continued to benefit from operational improvements and efficiencies.
Production improvements continued to advance at ICL Iberia’s Cabanasses mine in Spain, with ICL noting performance improvement measures at the site on track.
Potash sales volumes (including internal sales) for the first nine months of the year also rose 4%, to 3.431 million mt from 3.287 million mt. The company noted higher sales to Brazil, China, and India in the period, partially offset by lower sales to the US and China.
Zoller told analysts that ICL is not building potash inventory, and so is placing product where “the best opportunity is.” In first-half 2022, the best opportunity was Brazil, he said, adding that the company placed about 90% of its annual allocation in Brazil in the six-month period.
In August, ICL signed a binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a European customer to supply 300,000 mt of potash annually, with the price to be based on prevailing market prices.
ICL reported the company’s average potash realized price per ton in the third quarter was $697/mt CIF, up 108% from the year-ago $335/mt CIF, but 13% lower compared to second- quarter 2022.
Responding to an analyst’s question at an earnings call, Zoller said the company sees its average potash selling price for the fourth quarter at close to $600/mt.
ICL Boulby, which is now part of ICL’s Growing Solutions business segment (formerly Innovative Ag Solutions) saw the production of polysulfate – the marketed from of polyhalite – increase by 9% year-over-year, to 216,000 mt in the third quarter.
So far this year, over 800,000 mt of polyhalite has been hoisted at Boulby, setting new daily production records, the company said, highlighting the site remains on track to achieve its 1 million mt target in 2022.
Sales of FertilizerpluS – the company’s polysulfate line of products – also increased year-over-year in the quarter due to higher selling prices and sales volumes.
ICL also reported Growing Solutions’ sales to the specialty agriculture market increased in the quarter due to higher sales prices, as well as the strong performance of the two recently-acquired specialty plant nutrition businesses companies in Brazil – Fertiláqua, completed in January 2021 (GM Jan. 8, 2021), and ADS (formerly Compass Minerals América do Sul SA) completed in July 2021 (GM July 2, 2021).
For the nine months to Sept. 30, ICL posted a 266% rise to $1.83 billion in net income attributable to shareholders of the company, up from $500 million the previous year.
Nine-month adjusted EBITDA increased by 201% to $3.31 billion from the prior year $1.1 billion, while sales grew 61% to $7.92 billion from $4.92 billion.
Meanwhile, the company lowered its quarterly dividend to 24.35 cents per share, or approximately $107 million, compared with 29.18 cents per share in the second quarter of 2022. The dividend will be payable on Dec. 14, 2022.